Tribute To Joe Williams

I know many of our FIAE family have been asking about where to donate in Joe’s memory. See below for information on the charity his family has designated – very fitting it be a scholarship foundation acknowledging Joe’s love for education. FIAE will making a contribution, as well, on the organization’s behalf. If you have not posted your pictures, or listened to our ZOOM memorial service, it’s on the FIAE website. Sending best wishes, Bev Lynch

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Arlon Joe Williams Jr, 71, loved and devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle passed away on July 25, 2020 from complications of COVID 19. He joins the Great Reunion and we know the Best is yet to come for him. Joe was born in Childress, Texas on June 4, 1949 to Arlon Joe Williams Sr and Peggy Ileyn Compton Williams. He grew up in Memphis, TX and graduated from Plainview High School in 1967 and then graduated from Texas Tech University in 1971 with a BBA.

He began his career with Mrs. Baird’s Bakeries while in college and continued with them until 1992. In 1994, he entered the pinnacle of his career with a move to the Gulf Coast Retailers where he served as President of Regulatory and Member Services until their merge with Texas Retailers Association in January of 2006. He was a member of the American Leadership Forum; the Food Marketing Institute; Government Relations Committee; Food Industry Association Board of Directors; Texas Interagency Task Force; and the Texas Attorney General’s Employer Task Force. He served on the advisory board for the University of Houston’s Retailing and Consumer Science Department. In 2004, he was appointed to the Maternal, Infant, and Fetal Nutrition National Advisory Council and was made chair of the Council for 2006. He also served as the President of his community’s municipal utility district and for many years served on the Board of the non-profit organization SEARCH. One of Joe’s greatest treasures was when he was awarded the NGA Spirit of America Award July 23, 2017. The award is one of the National Grocer Association’s top honors and recognizes individuals for their dedication and service to the independent supermarket industry. Their words still ring true – “Joe was a steadfast advocate for Texas grocers with a long history of serving both the supermarket industry and consumers alike.” Joe retired from the Texas Retail Association in 2018 and was enjoying his retirement from a long and well-respected career.

Joe is survived by the love of his life Jackie Gion Williams and they celebrated their 50th anniversary in October 2018. He is also survived by his daughter, JoLeigh Williams Haupt and husband Rob Haupt and son, Jeremy Clint Williams and wife Krista C. Williams. Poppa as known by most all was the hero of his beautiful grandchildren: Haleigh Rebecca Haupt and fiancée Tyler Kendrick; Holly Renee Haupt; and Harrison Haupt. He is also survived by his adopted children and grandchildren from Norway including Ingunn Hagen and children Stian Samdal and Nora Samdal. Also included in family is Marion and Gwen Gion of Rusk, TX and all the Gion extended family. Joe is also survived by his sister, Cindy Williams McCoy and husband Terry of Sugar Land, TX and sister-in-law Susie Williams Jones and her husband Griff Jones of Odessa, TX. Nieces and nephews include Reagan Williams Whytlaw (Brian), Abby Williams Bishop (Josh) of Odessa, TX. Also included Samuel Justin McCoy (Ashley) and Kelly McCoy Rainbolt (John) of Sugar Land, TX. He and Jackie spent many a day travelling to watch football games, cheerleader events, and any other thing that was requested by Poppa’s grandchildren. All family members would often participate in his love of hunting or fishing. His love of hunting was passed on from Daddy Joe and Joe took it a step further with his deep commitment to the Executive Hunting Club. He was on the board of directors since the 1980’s and enjoyed life- long friendships there.

Joe and Jackie shared a passion for their children, grandchildren, family and Jesus Christ our Lord. They built their rock on His foundation and were tireless in their commitment to their church Christ the King Lutheran Church. Joe and Jackie served in many capacities in the church and their community. One week Joe was leading a youth group mountain climbing in the Rockies and the next week hosting a backyard barbecue for Harrison’s football team. Joe would plan and devote entire family trips to making sure family understood his love of our country and God.

We will miss this man, this legend but know he is enjoying a good round of golf now with our Heavenly family. He was preceded in death by parents Joe and Peggy Williams; brother Nick Williams and many other Heavenly family members. In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests memorial contributions to the Joe Williams Scholarship Foundation at PO Box 1166 Huffman, Texas 77336, or the charity of your choice.

Wanted to let you know that we will be having a Celebration of Life service on Sept 12th at 11 am at Christ The King Lutheran Church 

3803 West Lake Houston Parkway,

Kingwood, Texas 77339

We are also starting a scholarship foundation in honor of him. As you know he really enjoyed that.

Thank you,

Jeremy Williams

Cell 832-858-2872

It always hurts to lose a friend. But thinking back to all of our meetings and conferences of the FIAE group, the memories of Joe make the sadness lessen a bit. Joe always had a story, always to know how you were and what was going on with your association. I know we all waited in anticipation of Joe's WIC updates, battles and challenges :) Joe left the grocery association biz in a good place and we need to make sure we rise to Joe's level to keep it moving forward. We'll miss you Joe!

Happy Trails

This is the second in a series of articles from our valued "retiring" state executives. Last month, featured Jim Harrison from New Hampshire. This month - Joe Williams from the Texas Retailers Association. ENJOY! -- Bev Lynch

Happy Trails

So my favorite verses from one of our trail riding songs goes like this: Happy trails to you, until we meet again. Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then. Who cares about the clouds when we're together? Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather. Happy trails to you, till we meet again. Some trails are happy ones, Others are blue. It's the way you ride the trail that counts, Here's a happy one for you. From one cowpoke to another, it's been a fabulous ride and one that was spent entirely in the Food Industry. My first years after graduation (thanks to Jackie for supporting me until graduation!) were on the supply side of the industry in management with a commercial baker and a regional chip manufacturer. I was serving on the Board of the Houston Grocers Association when the position of President was vacated when Rick Johnson resigned to become President of Texas Food Industry Association. I jumped at the chance and was thrilled when I was offered the position as President/CEO of the organization. My how Jackie & I have been blessed with an awesome industry and such wonderful lifelong friends made during this journey. As one nears the end of this trail ride -- one you would call full-time employment, certainly not mentioning the word retirement as there are other trail rides just beginning, there are many things I now know and wish would have been done differently. For me, my number one thing was time management. FIAE certainly helped me sharpen different skill sets to manage my time more effectively. If only FIAE had been there at the beginning of my career after graduation, but they got there as soon as they could. One of the biggest lessons learned in my career was that "people do business with people they know and like." That was probably my most important lesson and one that led to a lot of the successes I've been blessed to be a part of. I tried to incorporate it into every part of the process of our association management. Each year, I schedule an appointment with each of our members to give a brief review of our past year activities and successes as it related to their business model. More importantly these meetings gave me the opportunity to listen to them as they related their concerns or issues that were most pressing for them. Once we had completed the meetings with retailer and suppliers, we would develop a list of priority issues that became the road map for the next year. This is how we became so involved and somewhat successful in SNAP EBT, eWIC, ORC, Infant Formula & Plastic Container Task Forces, annual sponsorships for our suppliers, high school retail management program, and a host of other opportunities. As you know on a trail ride, sometimes we get ahead of ourselves. Let me back track in time to talk about another key part of my career path -- Mentors. One of the first calls I received when I came on board with the Houston Grocers Association was from Eldon Roascher- President of Oklahoma Grocers, congratulating me for becoming President/CEO and to introducing me to FIAE. In addition, he also offered his services, "just call me"(this was before e-mail or texts, really even cell phones) on any issue or concern; he was always available to visit and offer his thoughts and advice. Not long after that, I received an invitation to attend a weekend workshop for association newbies from the Sioux City Sinners (Eldon, Wes Ball-Tennessee, and Truitt Gill- New Mexico). Along with the invitation, we were asked to bring samples of our magazine, our Board agendas, Convention/Conference Outlines and information on other event such as golf tournament to share and discuss. [I'm not sure how this group received the name "Sioux City Sinners" but I imagine Jim Olsen, Chris Flynn, Dave McCorkle or Joe Lackey could shed some light on the nickname.] Also invited to participate were other new grocer association presidents- Nancy Christensen-Minnesota; Trish Smallenburger-Iowa; Kathy Siefken-Nebraska, John Morrison-Missouri and Brian Jordan- Illinois. That weekend was spent showing what we were doing and then listening and looking at examples others brought. Eldon, Wes & Truitt also brought samples of each of their items and boy, you could just see the wheels turning with all of us newbies as they showed and discussed how they worked. The Sioux City Sinners set up the agenda, booked discounted rooms at some great facilities, had us over to their homes for dinner and shared information and expertise that covered any activity or event involving food industry associations. They were there to support us as our Mentors into this great "family" of FIAE. We did three of these retreats over our first couple of years and it made a huge difference for me as a leader of my organization, helped me grow as a person, and developed a group of friends you could call on for help or advice at any time. Now all of this was in addition to attending the FIAE Conference each year, which is an expanded example of those weekend retreats. I can honestly say that without these Mentors when I first started, these fellow Exec's putting us on the right trail that included the annual rest stop at the FIAE Conference, the trail ride for this cowpoke would have been pretty short. I would most definitely have ended up stranded on the side of the road or with a lame horse that had thrown a shoe. But, because of them and the friends at FIAE, I'm making it to the end of the ride, where there is a big dance and whole lot of BBQ just around the corner. By the way, Happy Trails was sung by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans when I was growing up. We all also joined the Roy Rogers Riders Club in the 50's. Thought you would enjoy our Club Rules: Roy Rogers Riders Club Rules

1. Be neat and clean.

2. Be courteous and polite.

3. Always obey your parents.

4. Protect the weak and help them.

5. Be brave but never take chances.

6. Study hard and learn all you can.

7. Be kind to animals and take care of them.

8. Eat all your food and never waste any.

9. Love God and go to Sunday School regularly.

10. Always Respect Our Flag & Our Country.

Happy Trails to you, 'till we meet again. Joe Williams Texas Retailers Association

NGA Surprises ‘Mentor To Many’ With Spirit Of America Award by Terrie Ellerbee/editor-Southwest

The National Grocers Association (NGA) surprised Joe Williams with the NGA Spirit of America Award on July 23 at the Texas Retailers Forum in Fort Worth.

Williams is the former VP for regulatory and member services of the Texas Retailers Association(TRA). He currently serves as a consultant with the TRA’s Texas Food Council as well as the Texas Retailers Education Foundation (TREF).

The Spirit of America Award is one of NGA’s top honors and recognizes dedication and service to the independent supermarket industry.

Williams was speechless when he received the honor.

“I’m never usually without words. I couldn’t say a word, and I was humbled,” Williams told The Shelby Report. “I couldn’t believe it. I was a little shocked.”

At the presentation, NGA’s Greg Ferrara, SVP of government relations and public affairs, held off until the end of his remarks to name Williams as the recipient, describing only “a very special individual to everyone in the room. This individual has dedicated his life’s work to the supermarket industry and its members.”

Ferrara praised Williams’ work on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and WIC (Women, Infants and Children).

“I think most of us know that he’s a national expert on SNAP issues and, in particular, WIC. Many of us fondly refer to him as ‘Mr. WIC,’ and that is something that we might say in jest, but it really is the truth that he is a national expert,” Ferrara said. “Numerous times, his efforts have actually saved his members sales, but probably more importantly, they ensured that consumers who use those benefits were able to use those benefits in-store.”

Ferrara said that as vital as the programs are to grocers, “too often we talk about SNAP and WIC and forget there are real people behind those programs that we serve every single day. He’s also been one of the leaders, not just in Texas, but across this country, in rolling out WIC EBT.”

Williams has been an exceptional resource because “there is sometimes a lack of knowledge amongst some of the regulators of the program. And this individual has been key in explaining what has worked, what doesn’t work and where do we need to go,” Ferrara said.

Williams said he was “blessed” to have gone through the conversion of paper food stamps to SNAP on EBT cards, and then helped take WIC even further—to a chip card.

Williams also worked with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott when Abbott was the state’s attorney general to get child support garnishments off of paper and out of the town courthouse.

“We went from where the child support was handled at the local level, and they’d send out these 8 x 11 sheets of paper,” Williams said. “Everything was paper-driven and there was no telling how many trees were being cut to try to get that out. And still, kids weren’t getting their child support on a timely basis.”

Williams helped eliminate all that paper, setting it up so that garnishment payments and court documents were transmitted electronically.

“It just speeded up the whole process,” Williams said. “The end result was the children got their child support, which they needed, so much quicker. There’s a lot of kids out there that depend upon that for everyday life.”

There are many more accomplishments that will forever be traced back to Williams.

Plans to retire

Ferrara said that when retailers need help, Williams is often the first person they call.

“He often needs to be their only call, because he is there to serve,” Ferrara said at the Forum.

Williams served as the president of the Gulf Coast Retailers Association beginning in 1994 until it merged with the Texas Retailers Association in 2006.

Williams officially retired as a full-time employee from TRA in December of 2015. He was then brought in as a consultant to handle grocery liaison functions and food industry regulatory issues, as well as management of TREF.

“We went ahead and renewed that contract at the end of last year with focus almost exclusively on the grocery piece,” TRA President and CEO George Kelemen told The Shelby Report. “He wanted to start to scale back, so we brought the management of TREF in house. Joe will be gradually phasing out over the course of the spring, and we’ve got good plans to maintain continuity. We’ll be announcing those probably later this year or early next year. I think everybody in the industry, particularly the grocery industry, is going to be very, very pleased and be very happy with that news.”

Patriot, Texan, mentor

The NGA Spirit of America Award that Williams received was established in 1982 to honor key industry and community figures that have provided leadership in the areas of community service and government relations on behalf of a free and independent food distribution system. NGA has given the award to more than 550 people, including former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford, as well as former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm from Texas.

Williams said the pride he felt in receiving the Spirit of America Award came from feeling that what he did meant something, was of value and helped people.

“And that’s probably the best thing for folks like us is if we can be of value,” Williams said. “If we can help our members get through issues or get to a better solution or situation, that brings satisfaction for us.”

Ferrara said that Williams “exemplifies the importance of state associations and how vital they are to the supermarket industry, why they are so important.”

Williams said he understands how hard it can be for independents to belong to an association like the TRA. They have their hands full with their business. But he also offered an example of a small grocer he’d met at the Grocers Supply show. TRA was able to connect the retailer with an affiliated insurance carrier. The grocer had been with his previous carrier for more than a decade, but the insurer was about to double his rates. With help from TRA, the retailer now is paying less than what he was before and enjoying more coverage to boot.

“That’s the best thing, is when you can provide that value,” Williams said. “It sure makes you feel good.”

At the Forum, Ferrara added this about Williams: “Probably most importantly, he’s a patriot and he’s a Texan. He’s a family man, and he’s a man of faith. He’s also been a mentor to many, including yours truly, and many of us are lucky to be able to call him a dear friend.”

To say he was speechless upon receiving the NGA honor isn’t completely accurate. Williams was able to communicate, but only just a bit.

“I’ve been in the food industry my whole career,” he said upon receiving the award. “You guys are family.”

Williams will retire “at least for a little while” next May.

“I’ve got a bucket list that is going to keep me busy for a year,” Williams said. “And then if I get antsy, I may step back in.”

The Joe Williams Tribute ZOOM call – Tuesday, August 11 @ 5:30 pm EST / 2:30 pm PST

https://zoom.us/rec/share/78NPL7f5zUdJRZWV5Fn4Ua8HJa_3eaa82igY_qALnUvxMncmi7UrURGoO93T_shz

Password: BX6Kj$D3

I State Issues Report - July 30, 2020

Distinguished Food Industry Leader, Joe Williams Passes Away

Last Saturday, our industry lost a long-time advocate and a true friend - Joe Williams. Joe lived an extraordinary life, both personally and professionally. He started his career in the 1960’s at Mrs. Baird’s Bakeries – Bimbo Bakeries USA, where he spent more than 20 years. He went on to head up the Gulf Coast Retailers Association of Texas, until its merger with the Texas Retailers Association (TRA) in 2006. He stayed with the newly merged organization, serving as Vice President for Regulatory and Member Services and head of the Texas Food Council. After his retirement, Joe remained a consultant for TRA and assisted with the Texas Retailers Education Fund.

Joe was awarded FMI’s Donald H. MacManus Award in 1999, for extraordinary leadership in public affairs, industry relations and community relations. In 2017, Joe was presented with the National Grocers Association’s Spirit of America Award, which recognizes individuals for their dedication and service to the independent supermarket industry.

A tireless champion for the food sector, Joe played a key leadership role in several industry-related organizations, including the American Leadership Forum, Texas Interagency Task Force for EBT, the Texas Attorney General's Employer Task Force and he served on the advisory board for The University of Houston's Retailing and Consumer Science Department.

Joe had also served on the board of directors for the Food Industry Association Executives (FIAE). The picture that accompanies this article was taken in 2018. Joe and his wife Jackie are seen here resting after a day's work volunteering in an orphanage in Puerto Rico, with other members of FIAE.

Joe was appointed to USDA’s Maternal, Infant, and Fetal Nutrition National Advisory Council, which he chaired in 2006, and he was a member of FMI’s WIC Task Force. He was considered an expert on all things involving WIC and SNAP. Among the many issues he testified on before the Texas Legislature was Infant Formula theft, where he was successful in helping to pass a law (SB 1826) that strengthened penalties in the state’s Food and Drug Code. Joe was instrumental in working with the state of Texas during the conversion of paper food stamps to SNAP EBT and then again with moving WIC from paper to a chip card. Joe readily shared his knowledge on both topics with others and spoke on both issues as a guest speaker at FMI’s Electronic Payment Systems Conference.

Joe had deep-rooted connections in his community. He served as the President of his local Municipal Water District and served many years on the Board of a local non-profit (SEARCH) that works with the homeless, and in addition served on the Board of The Greater Houston Chapter of the Red Cross as well as an avid volunteer at his church.

Joe was very family oriented, as anyone who spent more than a few minutes with him can attest. He was a proud father to Jeremy and Jo Leigh, and he loved to hunt and fish with them and his grandchildren, and attend their sports events. And if you didn’t see Joe on the golf course, he could be found at home on the farm with Jackie, his loving wife of more than 50 years, where they raised chickens, rode horses and dabbled in beehives.

Joe was a dear friend and mentor to many, including this author. A life-long Texan, Joe will be missed in his state and well beyond its borders. FMI staff collaborated with Rep. John R. Carter (TX-31), on a memorial that will appear in the Congressional Record. Rep. Carter said, “I rise today to celebrate the life of Joe Williams, a great Texan who became an angel on July 25, 2020. I salute his lifetime of service and join his loved ones in mourning his loss.” Rep. Carter’s statement may be viewed here.

Joe left a deep mark on the industry and on those of us who were lucky enough to work with him and call him friend. His kindness, his knowledge and his humor will be sorely missed.